Air Chiefs from US, Britain, and Australia Align on E-7 Wedgetail

Air Chiefs from US, Britain, and Australia Align on E-7 Wedgetail

July 18, 2023 | By Greg Hadley

The heads of the U.S., British, and Australian air forces signed a “joint vision statement” in a ground-breaking declaration of intent to co-develop the E-7 Wedgetail for airborne early warning and control, the U.S. Air Force announced July 17. 

USAF did not immediately share details of the joint vision statement, but noted in a release that the deal will cover “Wedgetail capability development, evaluation and testing, interoperability, sustainment, operations, training, and safety.” 

Cooperation could potentially accelerate USAF’s fielding of the Wedgetail—something both Air Force leaders and Congress has pushed as the aging E-3 AWACS fleet nears retirement. Current plans have the U.S. Air Force fielding its first of 26 E-7s in 2027. 

The Royal Australian Air Force already has six E-7s, and the Royal Air Force, which plans to buy three, is aiming for initial operational capability in 2024. 

U.S., British, and Australians have been talking about working together on the E-7 for some time. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall broached the topic with U.K. Minister for the Armed Forces James Heappey in February, and Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. said recently U.S. Airmen will travel to Australia to train on the aircraft. 

At least one USAF official, program executive officer for the digital directorate Steven Wert, has suggested the U.S. and U.K. could share E-7 testing data, and officials at Boeing, the airplanes’ maker, have indicated willingness to accelerate U.S. deliveries.  

But this week’s announcement is the first formal agreement addressing the aircraft. Brown; the Royal Air Force Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Rich Knighton; and the Chief of the Royal Australian Air Force, Air Marshal Robert Chipman, signed the document during a ceremony at the Royal International Air Tattoo at RAF Fairford, U.K. 

The U.S.-U.K.-Australia trilateral partnership, easily the closest among Western allies, has grown stronger in recent years. The three agreed last year to share nuclear submarine technology, and their so-called AUKUS accord has since expanded to include hypersonic and other emerging technologies. 

USAF’s release on the Wedgetail agreement did not indicate whether the new joint vision statement will formally expand AUKUS. 

“Collaboration and interoperability are critical to our warfighting advantage,” Brown said in a statement. “Signing this joint vision statement represents another step in the long-term, enduring commitment we have to the future and to the security of our three countries. The relationship between the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States is more robust than ever, and we share a mutual understanding of the challenges we face in the air domain and the need to address them.” 

A Royal Australian Air Force E-7A Wedgetail, Airborne Early Warning and Control (AWACS) aircraft, is parked at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, May 6, 2022. U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Makenna Gott
Why Are Air Force PJs Training in a 140-Year-Old Copper Mine?

Why Are Air Force PJs Training in a 140-Year-Old Copper Mine?

July 18, 2023 | By David Roza

Air Force Pararescuemen, also known as ‘PJs,’ are trained to save lives anywhere on Earth, from the middle of a desert to the open water. But while each environment has unique challenges, underground tunnels and caves can be particularly dangerous, leaving rescuers unable to see, hear, and even breathe at times.

In May, PJs got to train in just such dangerous conditions at an exercise hosted by the 414th Combat Training Squadron at the the San Xavier Underground Mining Laboratory, near Tucson, Ariz. From 1880-1952, the mine produced silver, lead, zinc, and copper. Now owned by the University of Arizona, it’s used as a training and research facility for mining and geology students, government agencies, and search and rescue teams.

“The darkness underground and the smoke makes it difficult to see or use lights sometimes,” Master Sgt. Sean Sylvia, a PJ with the Air Force Reserves and the ground operations manager for special warfare with the 414th CTS, told Air & Space Forces Magazine. “It’s sensory deprivation, which is what we’re trying to go for at the training site because that is the biggest lesson the team walks away with: figuring out different ways to handle those types of scenarios.”

The exercise wasn’t just to acclimate PJs to tunnels and caves, though—Tech Sgt. August O’Niell, a section chief of special warfare for the 414th CTS, said there were lessons for confined spaces of all kinds.

“Since we’re rescue specialists, we have to be able to get into and out of all different types of scenarios, and one of those is very small spaces, whether it’s a collapsed structure, or an underground situation, or the inside of cars,” O’Niell said.

air force pj
A U.S. Air Force pararescueman ascends out of a mine shaft during an exercise at the San Xavier Mine, Ariz., May 4, 2023. The pararescueman used a rope pulley system to safely exit the mine. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman William Finn)

In a confined space, rescuers may have to wear firefighter-style breathing masks to filter smoke or toxic gasses; their voices may be muffled or distorted; their radio signals may be blocked by layers of earth and concrete; their night vision goggles may not have enough light to function; and some of the tools they rely on to breach doors and other barriers may set off an explosion due to pent-up gasses.  

“It’s a completely different arena,” said Sylvia. “Communication really breaks down in these situations, so you have to figure out with your teammates how you’re going to pass signals and messages back and forth.”

Before the exercise began, the participating PJs went over a system of hand signals, rope pulls, and chem lights (glow sticks), but these can break down under pressure.

“Even with the best-laid plans, things happen when you’re down there,” said O’Niell. “One person, after memorizing all those signals, may mix up a left-hand turn with a right-hand turn and communicate that. It’s something that we need to embed with each team, that they need to work on these things before the entrance to a confined space.”

In the most recent exercise, Airmen responded to a simulated explosion that trapped and injured a handful of patients. The PJs had to breach in, assess the patients, some of whom were screaming in mock pain, treat any immediately life-threatening injuries, and move them out of the mine. To make things more interesting, the mine was completely blacked out and the 414th CTS ran smoke machines “to enforce that sensory deprivation so they can barely see their hand in front of their face,” Sylvia added.

The organizers also closed off the rescuer’s initial entry point, forcing them to rely on their mission prep to find a way out.

“A big thing about going into a space like this is you have to know your environment,” said O’Niell. “We were able to assess if they actually did their map studies by seeing if they were able to find other exits that they had available.”

Just keeping track of one’s gear can be a difficult task.

“They have a lot of equipment that they’re constantly taking on and off to work with,” Sylvia explained. “In those types of situations, if you set something down and you get distracted, you may lose it somewhere in the dark. A lot of it comes down to knowing how your equipment works and not losing it.”

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U.S. Air Force pararescuemen remove rebar blocking their path during an exercise at the San Xavier Mine, Ariz., May 4, 2023. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman William Finn)

While the May exercise was challenging, there are other scenarios PJs may practice at San Xavier that would challenge them in entirely different ways. One includes a 150-foot vertical shaft that rescuers must descend with ropes. Once they reach the patient at the bottom, they have to figure out how to pull him or her back up without causing additional harm. In the future, the 414th CTS plans on flooding a 100-foot section of one of the mine tunnels, forcing rescuers to dive to reach their patients—a situation reminiscent of the 2018 Thai cave flooding, where rescuers dove through flooded tunnels to reach a trapped youth soccer team.

“There’s only one small entry point at the beginning of it and a very small entry point at the end and then it’s dry after that,” O’Niell said. “They would have to SCUBA dive through this tunnel, come out the other side, treat their patient on that side and then communicate back what is needed to retrieve the patient.”

Ideally, rescuers can move patients out of the dangerous conditions of a mine before administering advanced medical care, but they may not always have that option. The patient may have been pinned beneath a fallen structure or have an injury too serious for movement. Air Force PJs cannot choose which scenario to prepare for, so they are trained to use various extrication tools and medical procedures to keep those patients alive.

“If they’ve been pinned for more than six hours, there are drugs that have to be pushed to keep all of that acidic blood from reentering the body and causing cardiac problems once you’re able to extract them,” O’Niell explained. “The team has to slow down, right? Nobody’s ever running through these types of situations. It takes what’s called a tactical pause to kind of talk through what’s happening and relay it to the rest of your team to get to the next phase.”

Those skills could save lives in a future humanitarian mission or conflict, which some experts predict could include brutal underground fighting.

“Rudimentary tunnel systems as experienced during the Vietnam War are not unique to that conflict; it is an underground pattern that continues today,” wrote four Army majors in a 2013 thesis on subterranean warfare for the Naval Postgraduate School. The thesis, “The Enemy Below,” was also cited by a 2019 series of Army Times articles on the subject.

Going underground can help avoid airborne surveillance or airstrikes. ISIS fighters dug tunnels throughout the Iraqi cities they occupied, and future urban warfare campaigns may include significant subterranean fighting.

Not all Air Force bases have a training mine nearby, and O’Niell said he was grateful Davis-Monthan Air Force Base does. The 414th CTS plans to return this August to put another visiting PJ team to the test.

“Having an area to do these things is key,” he said. “Maintaining proficiency over currency is something that is highly sought after and rarely happens with certain skill sets. It’s important that our guys are able to go after some things like this.”

F-35s Deploying to CENTCOM After ‘Alarming’ Actions by Iran, Pentagon Says

F-35s Deploying to CENTCOM After ‘Alarming’ Actions by Iran, Pentagon Says

July 17, 2023 | By Chris Gordon

The U.S. is deploying F-35 fifth-generation fighters and additional F-16s to the U.S. Central Command region, the Pentagon announced July 17.

The Department of Defense is also authorizing the deployment of an additional guided missile destroyer in response to “an alarming number of recent events in the Strait of Hormuz,” deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters. Earlier this month, Iran sought to seize two commercial oil tankers and fired on one of them before abandoning the attempt when an American guided missile destroyer, the USS McFaul, arrived on the scene.

Iran is not the only threat in the region. The U.S. and Russia have had close calls in the skies in recent months, both over western Syria with Russian aircraft harassing American MQ-9 Reapers, and with manned Russian aircraft flying near manned American fighters and U.S. troops in eastern Syria.

A senior U.S. defense official told Air & Space Forces Magazine that the F-35s could be used over the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz if the airspace became contested and could be used over Syria if Russia presented a more significant threat.

The Strait of Hormuz is a choke point between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, through which roughly 20 percent of the world’s oil supply flows. To deter Iran, the U.S. has A-10s and F-16s patrolling the skies in the area, in addition to P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft. Another destroyer, the USS Thomas Hudner, will now join the U.S. maritime force in the region.

“In light of this continued threat and in coordination with our partners and allies, the department is increasing our presence and ability to monitor the Strait and surrounding waters,” Singh said.

Singh said Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III consulted with the commander of U.S. Central Command, Army Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla, and decided to send “assets to the region that they felt it was important to do at this time.”

“It’s just an additional asset to help,” Singh said of the F-35 deployment. “We’ve seen Iran continue to engage in destabilizing activity.”

A-10s are most useful in uncontested airspace, which is why the Air Force wants to retire them by the end of the decade, figuring they are not suited to a high-end fight. Iran has fighter aircraft such as American-made F-4 Phantoms and surface-to-air missiles along its coast that can reach out over the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran previously downed a U.S. RQ-4 drone in 2019. F-22 Raptors that were rushed to the region last month in response to Russian actions are leaving CENTCOM, according to U.S. officials.

“If the maritime domain becomes contested, the F-35s would be able to operate and conduct that mission,” the senior U.S. defense official told Air & Space Forces Magazine.

While the senior U.S. defense official said they didn’t anticipate Tehran would seek to challenge the U.S. in the skies, the F-35s would be well suited to respond.

“They could suppress the enemy defenses if you got to that level,” the official said. “If F-4s start flying out to harass the A-10s, we could fly F-35s out there and the F-4 is not really going to be a particular issue.”

Despite a reduced permanent U.S. presence in the region, the DOD has been forced to bulk up its force in the Middle East on short notice in response to threats from Iran and Russia multiple times in the past year.

“We have the capability present where we need it,” Lt. Gen. Douglas A. Sims II, the director for operations for the Joint Staff, said July 13 when asked if the U.S. would need to increase its force in the region in response to Russian actions over Syria. “I believe that the combatant commander—in this case, in the Central Command—has all the necessary assets if there was an issue.”

U.S. MQ-9 drones have been harassed by Russian planes over western Syria this past month. Since March 1, Russian aircraft have regularly overflown U.S. troops in eastern Syria and have flown within 500 feet of American manned aircraft, actions which Air Forces Central commander Lt. Gen. Alexus G. Grynkewich has repeatedly called out as “unsafe and unprofessional.” The U.S. has roughly 900 troops in Syria and partners with Kurdish groups to defeat the remnants of ISIS. U.S. aircraft support the effort by providing intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, force protection, and airstrikes. Meanwhile, Russia is in Syria supporting the regime of Bashar Al-Assad.

The A-10s were the first Air Force assets to fly maritime missions in response to recent Iranian actions, before being bolstered by F-16s, which are faster and have a greater ability to conduct counterair missions, in the last few days. F-35s will add additional fighter capacity and counterair capability, both in the Gulf and over the skies of Syria.

“It’s a stealthy fifth-gen platform with advanced avionics and sensor suite,” the senior U.S. defense official told Air & Space Forces Magazine. “It’s very useful in a contested environment.”

A Cyber Force? Senate Proposes Study With Lessons Learned from Space Force

A Cyber Force? Senate Proposes Study With Lessons Learned from Space Force

July 17, 2023 | By David Roza

As the Senate prepares to start debate on the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act on July 18, one provision in the bill would task the Pentagon with studying the possibility of an independent Cyber Force—taking into account lessons from the Space Force.

The Senate Armed Services Committee completed its markup of the NDAA in late June, and the full text of the bill was released July 11. A section in the legislation directs the Secretary of Defense to work with the National Academy of Public Administration in evaluating whether it is advisable to either establish a separate service dedicated to cyber operations or refine the existing U.S. Cyber Command approach, which is based on the U.S. Special Operations Command model.

The legislation calls for studying how well the armed forces currently meet the cyber requirements of combatant commands, as well as how well the Pentagon recruits, organizes, trains, equips, and retains cyber operators. The study would then evaluate whether an independent cyber force would improve on that performance.

The provision would also analyze the tradeoffs of establishing a completely separate cyber force compared to standing one up within an existing military department, as the Space Force was stood up within the Department of the Air Force in 2019. Lawmakers also want to know “lessons learned from the creation of the United States Space Force that should be applied to the creation of a United States Cyber Force,” the bill states.

In terms of timing, the section requires the Secretary of Defense to enter into an agreement with the National Academy of Public Administration 60 days after the bill is enacted, and the academy would then be bound to submit a report 210 days after the agreement is signed. 

If passed, the provision and the ensuing study would help shape debate in Congress over whether to create a separate cyber service, an issue national security experts have debated for years but which has gained particular steam recently. The provision comes after lawmakers expressed a need for more data on the issue.

“I think we have to have like a public sort of analysis of it,” Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wisc.) chairman of the House Armed Services Committee’s cyber, innovative technologies and information systems  subcommittee, said in February, according to Breaking Defense.

Gallagher said he worried that creating a separate cyber force would lead to “a massive increase in bureaucracy,” especially so soon after the creation of the Space Force, but he admitted that he was “yet to do my own homework on it.”

Some national security experts share Gallagher’s concern over bureaucratic bloat.

“The overhead costs of standing up a new service and its respective bureaucracy would place an undue burden on a military that is still struggling to modernize and likely faces a period of stagnating or declining budgets,” wrote Jason Blessing, a visiting research fellow with the American Enterprise Institute, in a 2021 commentary for War On the Rocks. 

Blessing also argued that the current system, in which each service trains cyber operators and contributes to the U.S. Cyber Command, is well-suited to cyberspace, “which has complex intersections and interdependencies with the military’s other operating environments.”

Proponents of an independent cyber force say that the current set-up fails to keep pace with evolving threats.

“Most important, the creation of a U.S. Cyber Force would move America beyond the current ‘pick-up team’ approach to cybersecurity, wherein each of the armed forces has a small number of cyber experts,” wrote retired Adm. James Stavridis, former Supreme Allied Commander Europe, in a March analysis for Bloomberg. The admiral argued that a cyber force would also lead to greater advocacy for cyber needs on the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Future of the F-15E and More In the Balance as Senate Starts NDAA Debate

Future of the F-15E and More In the Balance as Senate Starts NDAA Debate

July 17, 2023 | By Greg Hadley

The Senate will start debate on the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act on July 18, as lawmakers wade through 666 amendments proposed amendments filed to the bill.

The proposals cover everything from the Department of State’s authorization bill to a prohibition on slaughtering horses for human consumption; many have little or no relation to defense policy. Senators vie to attach legislation to the NDAA because it’s “must-pass” legislation. Over the course of debate, most proposed amendments will be dropped. Some may be packaged together for quick, uncontroversial votes. And some will receive their own debates and roll-call votes. 

The House has already passed its version of the authorization bill, and once both chambers have passed a bill, the two must be reconciled. But first, the Senate must have its day.

For the Air Force, several of the amendments could have lasting repercussions for the service. 

Fighters 

The Air Force quietly revealed plans earlier this year to cut its F-15E fleet to 99 aircraft in the coming years—a reduction of more 119 aircraft. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. was asked about the cuts in his confirmation hearing to become the next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, answering that the cut was necessary to “balance capability and capacity.” 

Sen. Ted Budd (R-N.C.), who raised the issue with Brown on July 11, represents Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, one of five bases with F-15Es, and offered an amendment the next day that that would prohibit F-15E retirements through fiscal 2029. 

Budd’s drive to save the F-15E comes as other lawmakers press to increase procurement of the new F-15EXs variant. USAF asked for 24 F-15EXs in 2024—restoring some planned purchases that had been cut a year earlier. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said the service would go no further, but that hasn’t stopped some legislators. 

Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, added funds to his markup of the NDAA for advance procurement of six extra F-15EXs in 2025, and an amendment from Rep. John James (R-Mich.) adopted by the House added funds to buy two more EXs in 2024. 

Another amendment included in the House bill from Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) would prohibit the Air Force from terminating the flying mission of any Guard fighter squadron until at least 180 days after USAF submits a “notional plan” on how it will recapitalize every Guard fighter squadron. Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) introduced a matching amendment in the Senate. 

Bombers 

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) filed a series of amendments touching on the Air Force’s bomber fleet—unsurprising given that he represents Dyess Air Force Base, which hosts the B-1B Lancer. 

  • One would extend a previous prohibition on modifying “the designed operational capability statement for any B–1 bomber aircraft squadron … in a manner that would reduce the capabilities of such a squadron below the levels specified in such statement” until the B-21 Raider starts to be fielded. 
  • Another amendment would provide $30 million to test hypersonic weapons on the B-1—a possibility the Air Force has been studying with the development of a new pylon by contractor Boeing that enables the long-range bomber to carry such weapons. 
  • Finally, Cruz also wants to take $45 million out of the B-21’s research, development, test, and evaluation account and redirect it to fund military construction to support B-21 basing at Dyess.  

Other Aircraft 

A number of other Air Force fleets would be protected under amendments filed in the Senate. 

  • Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) wants to once again prohibit any divestment of the C-40 Clipper, used to transport senior military commanders, Cabinet officials, and members of Congress. 
  • Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) wants to extend a requirement that the Air Force to maintain a fleet of at least 271 C-130s through 2024. 
  • Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) introduced an amendment that would prohibit the Air Force from reducing its E-3 AWACS fleet to less than 16 aircraft until the service submits a plan “for maintaining readiness and ensuring there is no lapse in mission capabilities,” or until it starts buying the E-7 Wedgetail. 

Next Steps 

The House passed its version of the NDAA on July 14, largely along party lines after Republicans included amendments on a host of contentious issues that would cut funding for diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and out-of-state travel for reproductive health care, and more. 

Some lawmakers introduced corresponding amendments in the Senate, but they are unlikely to succeed in the Democratic-controlled chamber. If and when the Senate does pass the larger bill, a conference committee will be appointed to resolve differences between the House and Senate versions, and send that combined measure back to both bodies for a vote.  

F-16s Join A-10s to Deter Iran from Seizing Oil Tankers

F-16s Join A-10s to Deter Iran from Seizing Oil Tankers

July 16, 2023 | By Chris Gordon

The U.S. Air Force is now using F-16s to bolster its armed overwatch of oil tankers in the Persian Gulf region and deter Iran from trying to seize the vessels, U.S. officials say.

A-10s have already been flying patrols in the Gulf for the past couple of weeks. 

The F-16 fighters, which started to fly maritime missions in the last few days, will add to the U.S. ability to respond to Iranian threats at sea and can also carry out defensive counter-air missions should Iran challenge America in the skies. 

“We are working closely between the maritime and air components to ensure that there’s adequate air cover, that there’s adequate maritime surface presence in order to deter Iran from going after oil tankers,” a senior U.S. defense official said on July 14. 

The official added that the F-16s would “further robust that presence.” Navy P-8 Poseidon reconnaissance planes are also supporting the effort.

The U.S. moved to beef up its air patrols after Iran sought to seize two commercial oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz earlier this month and fired on one of them. 

U.S. officials said the Iranians abandoned the attempted seizure, which occurred in international waters, after the U.S. sent a guided missile destroyer, the USS McFaul, to the area.

The U.S. has a good understanding of which oil tankers are transiting the Gulf, what cargo they are carrying, what flag they are flying under, and who owns them, officials say.

“That kind of lets us assess what vessels might be a risk and when do we want to have more presence in play,” the senior U.S. defense official said.

“We don’t just protect everyone,” the official added without providing further details. “We protect vessels that we have a national interest to protect.”

This is not the first time the U.S. envisioned using A-10s for a maritime security mission in the Gulf. In the 2012-2015 time frame, the official said, the U.S. tested how A-10s could be effective against Iranian fast attack boats and concluded they could be useful in situations in which there is not a serious surface-to-air or air-to-air threat.

U.S. officials have said Iran may receive Russian fighters in exchange for the drones Tehran has provided Moscow to use in Ukraine. Meanwhile, Iran also has surface-to-air missiles that can cover the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic choke point for shipping leaving the Gulf. An Iranian SAM shot down an American RQ-4 Global Hawk in 2019 during a period of high tension due to Iranian attacks on commercial tankers. Formerly a U.S. ally, Iran has American-made combat jets such as the aging F-4 Phantom in its inventory.

“They have a working air force,” the official said of Iran.

The A-10s are equipped with a range of weapons that are useful against moving maritime targets, including guns, rockets, and certain laser-guided bombs, and the A-10s in the region have specifically been modified to carry a more diverse range of munitions.

The aircraft deployments have gotten the attention of the Iranians, who claim their actions are aimed at discouraging smuggling and that Washington is destabilizing the region. 

“I think our presence is very visible. It’s serving a deterrent effect,” the senior U.S. defense official said. “We’ll see if it’s deterrent enough over the coming days.”

38-Year KC-135 Crew Chief Marshals His Daughter’s First Takeoff

38-Year KC-135 Crew Chief Marshals His Daughter’s First Takeoff

July 14, 2023 | By David Roza

Master Sgt. Kevin Clancy has launched KC-135 tail number 58-0045 countless times over his career as a crew chief, but one flight July 6 was different from the rest. This time, his own daughter was taking his pride and joy down the runway.

“I went over the checklist again and again in my head that day,” Clancy told Air & Space Forces Magazine. “You launch hundreds of jets over the years, but this one had my kid on it.”

1st Lt. Megan Hirlehey was 0045’s co-pilot that day on her first mission assigned to the Pennsylvania Air National Guard’s 171st Air Refueling Wing. Hirlehey had practically grown up on the wing’s base outside Pittsburgh, where Clancy has worked since the late 1980s.

“I wanted to do this ever since I was a kid,” Hirlehey said.

Aerial refueling has long been a family affair for the two Airmen. As first reported in a recent press release, Clancy stayed on base for five straight days during the high-alert period immediately after Sept. 11, 2001. At one point his wife and two daughters stopped by to drop off a clean set of clothes, and during the visit one of the KC-135 pilots, Brian Krawchyk, took the kids to a refrigerator on base.

“He said ‘close your eyes,’ and then he opened the door and it was full of ice cream,” Clancy recalled. “The family joke is that that’s what made Megan decide to join the Guard.”

For her part, Hirlehey remembers seeing flight-suited aviators walking around the base and wanting to join their ranks, but it wasn’t the easiest journey. She enlisted with the 171st shortly before graduating high school in 2008, serving in the base’s education and training office and as an aerial port specialist at the base’s air terminal. Her goal was to commission and become a pilot, but there was a problem: at 5-foot-2, she did not meet the Air Force’s height requirement, and she was unable to get a waiver.

Her luck turned a few years later when the Air Force changed its height requirements to expand the pool of eligible pilot candidates. She finally received a waiver and was approved in 2019, but there was another problem: the COVID-19 pandemic, which made an already-long process that much longer.

Hirlehey’s patience paid off: she commissioned in 2020, made it through the Air Force’s pilot training pipeline, and reported back to the 171st earlier this year.

“It’s just very surreal to be back here,” she said. “I watched the pilots walk around here for 15 years wanting to be one of them.”

As the day of Hirlehey’s first flight with the wing drew near, Clancy requested to work in the aircraft hangar that day to make sure he could see his daughter take off. He got more than that: the mission planners made sure Hirlehey’s first flight was on 58-0045, the jet Clancy had served on as dedicated crew chief for six years. At one point Clancy named the jet “Global Reach” and designed nose art of the jet refueling a B-52 bomber over the western hemisphere.

“I called it ‘Global Reach’ because that’s what tankers provide to the Air Force,” he said.

kc-135
KC-135 tail number 58-0045 sports nose art designed by crew chief Master Sgt. Kevin Clancy in this 2019 photo. Though the nose art has since been taken down, ‘Global Reach’ will always have a special place in Clancy’s heart. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Senior Master Sgt. Shawn Monk)

Over the course of countless hours keeping an aircraft ready to fly, many crew chiefs come to think of their jets as their own flesh and blood. On July 6, Clancy watched his daughter fly away with his baby, so to speak. The crew chief waved the aircraft out of the chocks and saluted on its way out. He stood on the pilot’s side, according to standard practice, so he could not directly see Hirlehey through the cockpit window, but he walked away “smiling ear to ear” nonetheless. 

“With a jet that old there’s always a chance something might not work,” he said. “I was so thankful that she didn’t have to go to a spare.”

A few hours and an uneventful flight later, Hirlehey returned the KC-135 safe and sound and Clancy turned the jet around so it was ready for the next mission. The flight marked a changing of the guard: as Hirlehey begins her own flying career, Clancy is set to retire in three months after 38 and a half years in uniform. The flight was “kind of the last thing I’m hanging around for,” he said.

The old hand was grateful to end things on such a high note.

“Not many crew chiefs get to retire with this honor,” he said.

A-10s, Space Force Join in on South American Exercise for First Time

A-10s, Space Force Join in on South American Exercise for First Time

July 14, 2023 | By Greg Hadley

An A-10 “Warthog” landed in South America for the first time ever recently, as Air Forces Southern leads one of the largest exercises under U.S. Southern Command. 

Resolute Sentinel 23, the third edition of the training exercise in SOUTHCOM, involves roughly 1,000 personnel from the Air Force, Space Force, Army, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and eight partner nations: Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Great Britain, Brazil, Chile, Panama, and Uruguay. 

The 12th Air Force—Air Forces Southern—is leading the exercise, with 10 USAF aircraft involved, including the A-10, KC-135, C-130, C-17, and C-5, as well as 24 USAF units, spokesman Lt. Col. Mickey Kirschenbaum told Air & Space Forces Magazine. 

Resolute Sentinel began in 2021, growing from previous humanitarian relief exercises like New Horizons and Beyond the Horizons. The first two editions took place in Central America, but this latest version, based mostly out of Peru, marks the biggest one yet. 

In addition to practicing humanitarian relief operations and aeromedical evacuations, Resolute Sentinel includes training for combat operations, interoperability, and Agile Combat Employment, requiring Airmen to rapidly relocate and operate from austere bases. In one scenario on July 12, Airmen set up a forward area refueling point (FARP), gassing up an A-10 from an HC-130 in a remote airfield. “The A-10s need additives for their fuel,” Kirschenbaum said. “We thought we had a contractor here that was going to provide that, and they weren’t able to. So we had to come up with a solution to ferry fuel from one location to the other and then put the additives in so the A-10s can fly with the proper fuel inside. … We’ve been doing a lot of events like that, overcoming obstacles that you would see in a deployed location.” 

The A-10s in the exercise are from the Air Force Reserve’s 47th Fighter Squadron at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz.—the Reserve portion of the exercise is going by the name Patriot Fury. Units from Texas, Georgia, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Ohio are all involved, even bringing their own fire truck and refueling trucks. 

Meanwhile, the Space Force is also getting involved through Operation Thundergun Express, a 21-day Space Force deployment exercise nested under Resolute Sentinel. Members of the 16th Electromagnetic Warfare Squadron worked with compatriots from the Ecuadorian and Colombian air forces to build “mobile space detection systems” in Cali, Colombia, and Rionegro, Colombia, and based their command and control in Lima, Peru, according to an AFSOUTH release. It was “the first-ever defensive space control operation in U.S. Southern Command history.” 

“During the exercise, the forward-deployed team rapidly detected and reported live-fire electromagnetic interference sent from an exercise input cell attempting to disrupt a commercial satellite on orbit over the Atlantic Ocean,” according to the release. 

Resolute Sentinel began June 24 and will run through July 22. 

Editor’s Note: This article was updated July 17 to correctly identify all of the units involved in the exercise.

How the Air Force Will Guard its New Sentinel ICBMs, Part 3: Infrastructure and Training

How the Air Force Will Guard its New Sentinel ICBMs, Part 3: Infrastructure and Training

July 14, 2023 | By David Roza

Editor’s Note: This is the third of a three-part series on the future of how Air Force Security Forces will guard nuclear missile fields. Read Part 1, on the MH-139 Grey Wolf, by clicking here, and Part 2, on the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle and new Regional Operating Picture, by clicking here.

F.E. WARREN AIR FORCE BASE, Wyo.—As the Air Force prepares to stand up the LGM-35A Sentinel to replace the aging Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile, the security forces who guard them are already in the midst of sweeping updates meant to help them respond faster, hit harder, and stay better connected than ever before.

New systems like the MH-139A Grey Wolf helicopter, Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, and Regional Operating Picture communications network are all in the process of coming online. But the new ICBM itself and a flurry of new construction projects coming to nuclear bases like F.E. Warren will help tie those improvements together and make sure security forces Airmen have the training required to keep pace with future changes in threats and technology.

The incoming Sentinel features an open system architecture which should allow for easy upgrades as technology develops between now and 2075, the missile’s planned retirement date. It is also designed to be easier to maintain, which should minimize the security forces footprint required during maintenance time.

“Today you might be able to see us at a site doing maintenance based on what you can see from the roadside,” Col. Robert Ford, commander of the 90th Security Forces Group, told Air & Space Forces Magazine. “Tomorrow you may not be able to see us.”

The facilities where the missiles are housed should also be easier to defend. Today, an underground network of copper wires known as the Hardened Intersite Cable System (HICS) feeds signals back and forth between a missile squadron’s launch facilities and control centers. Airmen use those signals to monitor the missiles for maintenance issues or intrusions at a launch facility, but the old technology can handle only so much data. Over the next few years, F.E. Warren plans to replace HICS with a new network of fiber optic cables that should provide more data at a faster speed.

“You can push only so much data over copper lines before you just lose the information as it travels so far,” said Lt. Col. Eric Green, Air Force Global Strike Command Sentinel program integration officer. “Fiber optics will allow all that data to come back. We’re moving on from analog and going into digital technology.”

security forces
Airmen from the 890th Missile Security Forces Squadron respond to a simulated intrusion at a missile launch facility during a training exercise near Albin, Wyoming, May 21, 2023. (Air & Space Forces Magazine photo by David Roza)

The network will hopefully promote better coordination across the missile fields. Today, each missile squadron controls its own launch facilities, but there is no connection between squadrons, said Lt. Col. Raymundo Vann, 90th Operations Group deputy commander. The upgrades will allow higher-level Airmen at the forthcoming Integrated Command Center to have a better sense of conditions out on the missile field. 

“The upgrades will give us more interconnectivity and more operational oversight, which for us as operators is fantastic,” Vann said.

Green explained that missile maintainers will benefit by being able to identify problems earlier, while security forces Airmen could use the new tech to better assess possible threats. 

“Right now if the alarm goes off, you virtually have to go out and inspect it, even if it’s a rabbit or a tumbleweed going through,” he said. “And now with the new systems they’re going to be able to get eyes on and say ‘nope, no response necessary.’”

As part of the switch to Sentinel, F.E. Warren will shrink its number of launch control centers from 15 to eight. Green said the remaining seven will support the new missiles, though how exactly is yet to be determined. F.E. Warren will modernize all 150 of its missile launch facilities, with the goal of having operational Sentinels on the base by the 2030s. The transition could be a difficult one. In June the Government Accountability Office wrote that the Sentinel program is about a year behind schedule, with initial operational capability expected between April and June 2030. The no-fail deadline required by U.S. Strategic Command is September 2030. 

Even if Sentinel gets back on schedule, Ford predicted there will be some complexity for security forces Airmen as they protect both old missiles and new ones coming online. It will also take time to train everybody up on the new technology and facilities coming to the base, said Col. Deane Konowicz, vice commander of the 20th Air Force, which oversees the missile fields at F.E. Warren, Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont., and Minot Air Force Base, N.D.

“The number one challenge to training anywhere in the nuclear enterprise is that we have the alert force: day-to-day we are our nation’s deterrent,” he said. “The mission has been continuous since 1963. There is no down day in the missile field, so how do you balance training with keeping that alert force safe, secure, reliable and ready?”

A new facility may make it easier to strike that balance. F.E. Warren will build an integrated training center complete with a mock launch facility where maintainers, defenders, cybersecurity specialists, and missileers can practice running and securing Sentinel without stepping on the toes of an operational facility.

“Today I have to coordinate with the maintenance group folks and the operations group folks, whereas tomorrow I’ll have that kind of facility here on the base that I can use,” said Ford.

Having begun its service as an Army cavalry post in 1867, F.E. Warren is no stranger to reinvention. The next few years will see another massive change as the base stands up 21st-century missiles, facilities, and platforms. But base officials warned that threats will continue to evolve, and so too must missile field security Airmen.

“The challenges don’t go away, they change, so we need a trained and efficient force that understands them,” Konowicz said.

The new construction projects at F.E. Warren are just a few elements of a suite of technologies and platforms that will make the missile defense enterprise even more deadly. Part 1 is about the MH-139 Grey Wolf. Part 2 covers the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle and Regional Operating Picture.